Theatre Lab

Kaspar

October 25-29, November 1-5, 2006

Playwright: Peter Handke

Directed by: Barry Cavin

Performance Dates: October 25-29, November 1-5, 2006

Description: Kaspar Houser was imprisoned (probably by his mother) in a small windowless room from the time of his infancy until he was set free to be enlisted into the army or killed. When he emerged on the street of Nuremburg as a teenager, he had the ability to speak only one sentence: "I want to be a soldier like my father once was." This tragic tale served as Handke's inspiration for this theatrical event that explores both the constructive and destructive forces of language. Our production seeks to reveal the human story of how we use slippery and precarious symbols to define ourselves and sometimes destroy others. We also examine our mourning for the loss of our pre-linguistic selves and the divorce of symbol from its referent.